Frederick W. Brune (1776-1860)

Frederick W. Brune was one of the most prominent merchants in Baltimore's history. Brune immigrated to Baltimore from Bremen in 1799 and worked as a partner in the merchant house of Von Kapff & Brune, which was later renamed F.W. Brune & Sons.

Frederick W. Brune (born May 23, 1776 in
the Free Imperial City of Bremen; died November 9, 1860 in Baltimore, MD) was
one of the most prominent merchants in Baltimore's history. Brune immigrated to
Baltimore from Bremen in 1799 at the age of twenty-three. He worked as a
partner in the merchant house of Von Kapff & Brune, which was initially
founded in 1795. The firm was later renamed F.W. Brune & Sons after his
original partner, Bernard Von Kapff, passed away in 1828. Brune is often
credited for opening the very lucrative trade partnership between Baltimore and
his native city of Bremen.[1]
This connection solidified and grew over many decades. Due to this trade
connection, German immigration to Baltimore dramatically increased. Brune was
also responsible for opening trade with many of the newly liberated South
American countries in the early nineteenth century. By the end of his life, he
had conducted business throughout the world.[2]

Brune was very civic minded and did much to
support his adopted hometown and its residents. In 1817, he was a prominent founding
member of the new German Society of Maryland, which gave aid to German immigrants.[3]
Over the course of Brune's life, Baltimore's population grew from 30,000 to more
than 200,000. Brune is credited as one of the individuals who made this growth
possible.[4]
He also served as an officer of the city's first Chamber of Commerce and as a director
of the Baltimore branch of the Second United States Bank from 1819 until its
charter was terminated by President Andrew Jackson. Brune was a director of the
Merchants' Bank and a founding member of both the Savings Bank of Baltimore and
the Equitable Fire Insurance Company. He was also heavily invested in the
Turnpike Road Company, which created all-weather roads that simplified travel
in the region.[5] Brune
embraced the United States and its culture but never forgot his German
heritage.[6]
He became one of the most successful men in the city and was the patriarch of a
prominent Baltimore family. He used the connections he had made during his
early years in Bremen to settle successfully in a faraway city and prosper, becoming
a major contributor to the economic growth of Baltimore in the process.

Frederick William Brune was born in the
Free Imperial City of Bremen, one of a number of free cities that was part of
the Holy Roman Empire at the time. (After the Holy Roman Empire collapsed in
1806, Bremen became the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.) Little is known about
Brune’s family background. He was likely born into a Lutheran household and was
educated in the mercantile trade at the counting house belonging to the brother
of his future business partner, Bernard von Kapff (1817-1828).[7]
Brune was fluent in German, French, and English by the time he arrived in the
United States.[8]

It is unclear why in 1799, at the age of twenty-three,
Brune left a seemingly stable life in Bremen for the United States, but it was
likely related both to political unrest in Europe and potential economic opportunities
in the U.S. Brune had intended to settle in New York because that was where his
brother was based.[9] When he
left Europe for New York in 1799 he brought with him a cargo of linens from his
German contacts in Bremen, which he intended to use as stock to establish his
own mercantile business. Before Brune could carry out his plans to found a business
in New York, though, three prominent Baltimore mercantile houses, Smith &
Buchanan, Valck & Co., and Focke & Co., requested that he come to
Baltimore to oversee the business of Von Kapff & Anspach, a Baltimore
mercantile house that was left without leadership when Henry N. Anspach, one of
the partners of the company died suddenly on June 20, 1799, while his partner, Bernard
J. von Kapff, was traveling in Europe on business. Von Kapff, only seven years
Brune’s senior, had emigrated from Bremen in 1794 and had founded a firm in
Baltimore the following year that imported linens and exported tobacco. When he
arrived in Baltimore, von Kapff had taken Henry Anspach as a partner in 1797, but
had not authorized an attorney, or designated anyone other than his partner, to
conduct business in his absence.[10]
It’s highly probable that Brune knew Bernard von Kapff personally due to his employment
in the counting house of von Kapff’s brother in Bremen and Brune’s plan to
settle in New York may also have been conveyed to von Kapff’s firm in
Baltimore. This is likely why Brune was approached by the three mercantile
houses to manage von Kapff’s firm in his absence. The merchants that brought
Brune to Baltimore promised to vouch for and guarantee any business decisions he
made during the interim period. This turned out to be unnecessary because upon von Kapff’s return from Europe, he not only confirmed all of Brune’s decisions
but also made him his new partner, renaming the business Von Kapff, Anspach
& Brune.[11]

In Baltimore, Brune was supported initially
by two groups, the merchants who had invited him to the city from New York and
the established German immigrant community in the city. Soon after he arrived
in Baltimore, Brune joined the Zion Lutheran Church. The congregation had been
founded by Germans residents of Baltimore in 1755.[12]
Services at Zion were conducted in German which meant that it was a focal point
of the early German community in the city.[13]
Brune was an active member of Zion during his early years in Baltimore and he
continued to support the congregation financially as he became more prosperous.
He donated a substantial sum towards the construction of a new church building,
which was dedicated in 1808.[14]

Though Brune never forgot his German roots,
he was not constrained by them either. As he became more successful, he adopted
an upper-class, “Americanized” lifestyle. This was likely due, in part, to von
Kapff’s influence.[15]
An undated letter highlights how deeply both men had assimilated into American culture.
The routine note between the two German immigrants about scheduling a lunch
date was written in English rather than in their native language.[16]

Brune gradually became part of the
Baltimore social elite and formed lifelong friendships and relationships with
other prosperous merchants in the city. On September 28, 1805, Brune married
Anne Clarke (1780-1859), daughter of Ambrose Clark, who had emigrated with his then
seven-year-old daughter from Dublin in 1787 and had become a prosperous
Baltimore merchant by trading with the West Indies and Europe.[17]
Rev. Dr. Bend of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church (now generally referred to as “Old
Saint Paul's”) officiated at the wedding.[18]
Anne Clarke appears to have been a member of the Episcopal Church because her new
husband joined the congregation upon, or soon after, the wedding.[19]
At least four of their children were baptized at St. Paul's. Brune's son,
Frederick W. Brune II, was known as a devout member of the Episcopal Church
during his life. Brune himself is buried at Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in a plot
next to many members of the Clarke family.[20]

By all accounts, Frederick and Anne’s
marriage was a happy one. Later chroniclers described Anne Clarke Brune as “a
lady of great excellence and strength of character.”[21]
The couple had seven children. Six grew into adulthood and one died very young:
Ellen A. Brune (1807-1852), Anne (Nancy) Henrietta [Brune] Shattuck
(1809-1895), Ambrose Frederick Brune
(1810-1812), Frederick William Brune II (1813-1878), John
Christian Brune (1814-1864), Clara Marie [Brune] Brown (1817-1919) and William
H. Brune (1820-1887).[22] Frederick W. Brune II became a prominent Baltimore lawyer. His law partner,
George W. Brown, married Clara Marie Brune. John Christian Brune and William
Henry Brune later became partners in their father's business, F.W. Brune &
Sons. The Brunes formed part of the small group of wealthy German-Americans in
Baltimore who “allied themselves with the old Baltimore families, rode to
hounds, danced at balls, had their daughters formally introduced to society at
the cotillion and otherwise adopted the mores of the English-speaking group.”[23]

It is clear that Brune became an American
citizen, likely prior to the War of 1812, even though the exact date is not known.[24]
His citizenship is confirmed by his summons for jury duty in 1822, his work for
the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank of the United States between 1819 and
1836, and his service as an officer of Baltimore’s first chamber of commerce in
1820.[25]
In 1848 he even endorsed presidential candidate Zachary Taylor in print.[26]

Brune also came to identify with Anglo-southern
culture as he assimilated into Baltimore’s upper-class society. In a June 9,
1827, letter to his son, F. W. Brune II, who at the time was studying at
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and who shared his father’s
southern sentiments, Brune asks if Brune II’s younger brother, John, also at
Harvard, had “become accustomed to Yankee manner, [and] Customs.”[27]

Frederick Brune also deeply identified with
his adopted home city of Baltimore. In the same June 9, 1827, letter to his
son, Brune writes the following anecdote, which is his only known first-hand statement
about his relationship with his adopted city:

Our city has been honored by a visit from the “Washington
Guards,” a company of soldiers from the city of Washington; they were very fine
looking men generally, with very pretty uniforms, but in my humble opinion are
not as handsome as some of our own, though perhaps I may be wrong for, as you know,
I am a great stickler for Baltimore, and everything that belongs to it.[28]

Brune became well established and
influential within the community and was comfortable with his status as the
founding patriarch of a German-Irish-American family. He initially lived at 131
Hanover Street, and later moved to 73 North Calvert Street. Both addresses are
in the inner harbor district, which in the nineteenth century, just as today,
formed the heart of downtown Baltimore.[29]
Like other wealthy merchants Brune also had a country house, a sign of class
and status, in the Baltimore suburb of Franklin, where the family would live
during the summer to get away from the bustle of the city.[30]

Brune’s identification as a southerner was expressed
very concretely by the fact that he owned slaves. It is uncertain when Brune
first became a slave owner, but it may have been through his connection with his
father-in-law, Ambrose Clarke, who also owned slaves. There are records showing
that Clarke hired out his slaves as day laborers in the city.[31]
The first known evidence of Brune as a slave owner appears in the 1810 census.
Entries in the 1820 and 1830 censuses also show that the Brune household included
slaves (three slaves in 1810, two slaves in 1820, one slave in 1830), while the
1840 census makes note of “4 Free Colored Persons, and 0 Slaves.”[32]

While Brune's views on slavery are not
clear, his evident shift from slave owner to employer of “Free Colored Persons,”
may be related the views and actions of his son. Frederick W. Brune II became a
prominent lawyer and partner in the Baltimore law firm Brown & Brune.[33]
Brune II's law partner, who was also Brune I's son-in-law, George W. Brown, was
elected mayor of Baltimore just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Brown wrote
in his postwar memoir that he and Brune II (as well a number of others), while
not abolitionists, “were preparing to initiate a movement tending to a gradual
emancipation within the state….”[34]
From the evidence in the census data, it
is possible that Brune I shared the same view on slavery as his son and
son-in-law.

Little is known about Brune's personal
tastes and habits.[35]
He seems to have been fully engaged in his business affairs, so much so that he
casually mentioned in one letter that he had been so busy that he had been
unable to go to the theater.[36]
He was, however, active in a number of civic organizations and supported the
arts and artists. Brune was a member of the American Art Union, which sought to
give wider access to great works of art through engravings and exhibits.
Members aimed to be both art collectors and conduits for the public to have
greater access to art.[37]
In 1840, the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon while on a trip to Baltimore
to sell copies of the newest edition of his Birds
of America book mentioned in a letter that “Mess. Meckle, Oldfield and the
Brune family have all assisted me in the most kind and brotherly manner, indeed
I may say that my success is mostly derived from these excellent persons.”[38]

In 1817 Brune served as a founding member
of the reconstituted German Society of Maryland and in 1844 he was a founding
member of the Maryland Historical Society.[39]
Taking Brune by his own word, he loved learning and being able to share his
learning. In a letter to his sons at Harvard, he wrote: “You know my maxim that
you cannot learn too much” (emphasis in original).[40]
He seems to have been a man who while driven and successful, appreciated the
world around him and worked to improve the lives of others through his civic
and philanthropic endeavors. Yet, he was mindful of his past and never hid his
German heritage.[41]

Despite Brune’s business success in 1799,
first as Von Kapff & Anspach’s interim manager and then as a partner at Van
Kapff, Anspach & Brune, at the end of his life he considered the year of
his arrival in Baltimore “by far the most disastrous to the commerce of the
city.”[42]
His judgment had less to do with the trade disruptions that resulted from the
growing conflicts in Europe related to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in
France, but rather referred to a chain reaction that began when commodities
markets in the trading port of Hamburg became glutted and prices for products
like coffee and sugar collapsed. Hamburg banks could not stem the collapse,
which led to a series of bankruptcies among trading houses in Hamburg, Bremen,
and overseas. The loss of these firms reduced Brune’s trading opportunities
with businesses that he had known before his departure from Europe. [43]
Despite the loss of potential business partners in Bremen, Brune prospered and
persevered in Baltimore.[44]

In 1803 Von Kapff, Anspach & Brune
officially became Van Kapff & Brune. Over the course of the first ten years
of the nineteenth century, Von Kapff & Brune continued to grow and
establish itself as a major mercantile firm in Baltimore. Their main import continued
to be German linens, but they also imported items such as glass, lead, toys,
wine, copper, fishing twine, rice, cheese, quills, paint, and sarsaparilla.[45]
They exported crops like grain, cotton, and tobacco, and South American goods
like sugar and coffee.[46]
They also expanded their import-export operations in 1802 by becoming ship
owners.[47]

The company’s success enriched the partners,
but the growing commercial influence of Von Kapff & Brune also led to
the development of other industries in Baltimore. Insurance companies rose to
insure ships and goods. Local farms increased production of raw materials for
export. Later, Baltimore’s shipbuilding industry expanded when the company began
commissioning the construction of ships locally — all positive developments for
the growing city's economy.[48]

Early in the nineteenth century Brune also became
involved in other business ventures. Beginning in 1810, Brune served as manager
of the Baltimore and York Town Turnpike Road Company, a position he held for
many years. The road, authorized in 1787, connected Baltimore and York,
Pennsylvania, and was a key component to the long-term economic growth in Baltimore
as it provided an important early thoroughfare between the Pennsylvania
interior and the port.[49]
The company was in charge of building and maintaining a large section of this overland
travel-way through the Baltimore area.[50]
During this period Brune also formed an additional successful business partnership
with another Baltimore merchant, C.H. Dannemann, under the name Brune &
Dannemann, which lasted until Danneman's death in 1829.[51]
Brune's two merchant houses were classified differently. Von Kapff &
Brune were classified as “General Merchants,” which meant they owned the goods
that they sold. Brune & Dannemann were classified as “Commission
Merchants,” which meant they sold goods as a proxy for someone else, a farmer
for instance, and retained a portion of the profit as a commission fee.[52]

Brune began to attract international
attention within the first decade of his business career in Baltimore. In 1809
the new, liberal, and reform-minded King Frederick VI of Denmark, named “Frederick
W. Brune Esq….as Vice-Consul from his Danish Majesty for the State of Maryland,”
a position in which Brune served for a time.[53]
This post, which President James Madison personally affirmed, was an honor for
Brune, for it meant he was an officially recognized representative of a foreign
head of state only ten years after establishing himself in Baltimore.

Von Kapff & Brune’s trans-Atlantic
trading activities with Europe faced significant challenges during the first
two decades of the nineteenth century. War between England and Napoleonic
France affected nearly every state in Western Europe. Both England and France
sought to prevent third parties from trading with the other state, which made multinational
trade across the Atlantic very difficult. The French commissioned privateers to
raid trans-Atlantic commerce bound for England. The state-sanctioned pirates boarded
trade ships and took cargo with the excuse that those ships were on their way
to “supply” Britain and her allies. The issue of piracy would continue to pose a
problem throughout Brune's business career. The William A. Tucker was the first known instance of a ship owned by
Von Kapff & Brune being taken by privateers. When the ship was seeking
shelter from a storm on the River Elbe in 1807, it was boarded by French privateers.
Even though the ship itself was spared, Von Kapff & Brune made a loss claim
of $11,956.60 (approximately $241,000 in 2011$) for the cargo.[54]
Brune was not able to recoup this loss until years later after an 1831 treaty
with France settled such matters.[55]
More disastrous was the loss of the
Eleanor in 1809, a ship built and originally owned by Ambrose Clarke,
Brune's father-in-law.[56]
This schooner, which had left Baltimore for San Sebastian, Spain, was taken by
French privateers. More than $25,000 (approximately $472,000 in 2011$) worth of
goods were taken and the ship itself was condemned and sold in France. Again, Brune
was not able to recoup this loss until the early 1830s.[57]

French privateers were only one danger for
American shipping. Impressment by the British Navy was another threat. The
British would stop a ship, regardless of flag, and board it, ostensibly to look
for British deserter sailors. On numerous occasions, they stopped American
vessels and impressed American citizens, claiming they were British. On June 27,
1810, the Von Kapff & Brune-owned
Strafford was stopped and at least two sailors were first severely beaten
and then taken onto the British warship Pincher
for more than two months before they could escape.[58]

Just before the outbreak of the War of
1812, Von Kapff & Brune found themselves in the middle of an international
scandal involving Henri Christophe, the King of Haiti. Christophe (also known
as Henry Christopher) was a former slave who had come to power in the 1791 Haitian
Revolution. In 1811, Haiti split in two states. The north was ruled by
Christophe as a kingdom, and the south was governed by Alexandre Pétion as a
republic. The United States did not formally recognize the independence of
Haiti because such recognition would validate a slave rebellion. In contrast, merchants
like Von Kapff & Brune had no issue trading with Haiti.[59]
In 1810, Christophe sent $124,955.19 (approximately $2.4 million dollars in
2011$) worth of coffee to Von Kapff & Brune so that they would commission
and build a warship for him.[60]
Von Kapff & Brune accepted the contract, but once completed, the warship, which
officially belonged to Christophe, was held by the local courts as collateral until
previous monetary claims against Christophe could be cleared.[61]
Christophe came to believe that he had been “swindled” by Von Kapff &
Brune.[62]
On January 3, 1811, in retribution, he confiscated more than $130,000 from
American merchants who were in Haiti at the time, which in his mind compensated
for the $124,000 taken from him plus interest.[63]
He declared that if any merchant took issue with this seizure, they should seek
remuneration from Von Kapff & Brune.[64]

When news of Christophe’s “General Order” arrived in
the United States there was immediate outrage.[65]
The New York Herald, responded that this
was “after the site and manner of Bonaparte's villainous decrees. The same
system of robbery, it would seem, has been commenced by the negroes in the West
Indies upon our Merchants, as has been carried on in France for two or three
years past.”[66]

Upon
hearing of Christophe's initial accusation, Von Kapff & Brune immediately
published a defense in newspapers across America:

Having noticed in the American of yesterday a publication
purporting to be of Henry Christophe's, President of Hayti [sic.], wherein our
name is mentioned: In order to prevent any unfavorable impression which might
arise from that statement, and which is not admitted to be true: we have but to
observe, that we now are, as we always have been, ready and able to discharge
any just claims which anybody may have against us.

The editors of the American are correct in their
introductory remarks, at to the pendency of suits against said Henry Christophe.
By reference to the record of Baltimore county Court, it will be perceived that
the subscribers as garnishes of President Christophe have been harassed by a variety
of attachments predicated upon supposed claims, arising from both anterior and
subsequent to the seizures of American property by him made, as by him stated
in his publication.

In
the end, Von Kapff & Brune were not negatively affected by the scandal.[68] The
completed warship was eventually released into their control. This happened to
coincide with the outbreak of war with Britain. The war cut off many of Von
Kapff & Brune’s trade routes, but a new opportunity for profit arose when
the American government began commissioning privateers to attack British
shipping, since the American Navy was no match for the British Navy. This enabled
Von Kapff & Brune to outfit their warship, hire a crew, and send it out on
patrol. This ship was eventually taken by the British off the coast of France.[69]

During the War of 1812, the British
blockaded major American trade cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore beginning in 1813, which deeply hurt the U.S. economically. Instead of
blockading Baltimore directly, the British attempted to blockade the entire
mouth of the Chesapeake. While this was effective in interrupting Baltimore’s
international trade, as well as the trade and industry of all the urban centers
that relied on the Chesapeake, it was not completely effective, and a number of
ships were able to make it through the Chesapeake blockade.[70] Later
in the war, the British attempted to stage an amphibious landing and sack
Baltimore. Brune’s location during the Battle of Baltimore (September 12-15,
1814) in which the British bombarded Fort McHenry and attempted to land troops
in the city, is unknown. Brune's office and residence were in the heart of the
city and he worked at the harbor where his ships were docked at Bowley's Wharf.
It seems most likely that Brune took his family to his country house in
Franklin during the battle. [71]

Partly for patriotic reasons and partly in
response to the British trade blockade, Baltimore merchants banded together as
a bloc and aided the war effort by commissioning and supplying privateering
vessels in the fight against the British Navy.[72]
In Baltimore, this effort was centered on merchant Henry Diedier Jr, who, as von
Kapff's father-in-law, had a familial relation to Von Kapff & Brune.[73] Throughout
the war, B.J. von Kapff and F.W. Brune were substantial investors and part
owners of a number of privateering vessels, among them, the Harrison, the Hannibal, the Leonidas, the Vidette, the Saranac,
and the Warren. Von Kapff and Brune,
in each case, were listed as individual private investors, but both always invested
in the same vessels.[74] At
one point during the war, the Von Kapff & Brune firm bought a ship, the Clarendon, which had been captured by a
Philadelphia privateer for $27,135 (approximately $400,000 in 2011$). They also
bought another ship, the Star, for
$28,000.[75] Over the course of the war B.J. von Kapff and
F.W. Brune were investors in at least ten ship commissions (individually or as
part of their firm).[76] One
privilege of owning a ship was that the owner contractually had the authority to tell
the captain to sail to whichever place the owner believed the ship might have
the most impact. Brune, as part owner, would have had a say in where to send
the ships during the war. As the war dragged and captains became more
experienced often they were given more freedom to sail as they saw fit. This
was the case with the Saranac late in
the war, a vessel in which both von Kapff and Brune had invested.

Investments
by Baltimore mercantile firms such as Von Kapff & Brune in privateering
during the War of 1812 allowed them to stay profitable despite the general
decline in trade. In addition, Von Kapff & Brune profited by supplying
privateering vessels with necessary items, such as French muskets and sail duck,
the canvas used to make ship sails.[77] B.J.
von Kapff and F.W. Brune each made about $93,000 from their investments in
their privateering vessels during the war. However, this was much less than the
company’s typical profits during a “thirty month period of shipping activity.”[78]
Clearly, privateering missions “were not satisfactory replacements for their peace
time business.”[79]
At war's end, they were happy to cease funding privateering vessels and begin
reestablishing their trade networks, especially in the German states.

Von
Kapff & Brune’s business relations with the city of Bremen were central for
their successful operations. Bremen and Baltimore had developed into major
trade partners in the early nineteenth century. Baltimore sent
grain and tobacco to Bremen in return for manufactured goods and linens. German
immigrants followed the flow of goods from Bremen to Baltimore.[80] Beginning in 1815 with the conclusion of the
War of 1812, there was a significant spike in German immigration. In the thirty
years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, 200,000 immigrants landed in
Baltimore, a significant percentage of them from the German states.[81]

In 1783, the German Society of Maryland was
founded with the aim of helping German immigrants establish themselves in the
United States.[82] In the
immediate wake of American independence, however, immigration rates declined
and the society was no longer active. This changed in February 1817, when the Juffrow Johanna sailed up the Chesapeake Bay.[83]

The
sailing ship with 300 German men, women, and children on board arrived in Annapolis
after a difficult, fifteen-week, winter voyage across the Atlantic from
Amsterdam. Another six weeks of icy conditions passed before the ship finally reached
Baltimore. Numerous Germans on the vessel had signed work contracts in exchange
for their passage (“redemptioners”) and had to remain aboard until their
indentures were purchased and their debts settled with the ship’s crew. The
winter that year was particularly harsh and it took until April for all of the
contracts to be sold. Though not a unique situation, stories of the conditions
on the ship caused outrage in the community. As word spread, many Germans in
Baltimore came together to see if they could do something to assist the newly
arrived immigrants. Private citizens began running advertisements in newspapers
seeking help and employment for those on the ship.[84]
On February 13, 1817 the old German Society was officially re-founded, with Frederick
W. Brune among its prominent founding members. B.J. von Kapff served as a vice-president
of the society from 1817 until 1822. F.W. Brune replaced von Kapff as a vice-president
of the society in 1822 and remained in office until 1860.[85]

The
German Society’s mission was “The protection and assistance of poor emigrants
from Germany and Switzerland and their descendants who may reside in the state
of Maryland or be temporarily sojourning therein.”[86] The
new German Society used the influence of members like Brune to personally help
new immigrants and was also able to gain the support of the Maryland
Legislature. The Society persuaded the legislature to enact laws that protected
these new immigrants. Because of the Society, immigrants were given rights they
previously did not have. It was mandated that no contract could be longer than
four years, that immigrants could be detained on ships no longer than thirty days,
and that any redemptioner under twenty-one was guaranteed at least two months of
school education a year.[87]
There are even examples of the German Society winning court cases for
indentured servants due to mistreatment by those who owned their contracts.[88] Because the German Society convinced the
government to begin regulating immigration, it is also during this period that
the first real immigration statistics appeared.[89] In
protecting the rights of incoming Germans, the German Society obtained more
rights for all incoming immigrants to Maryland. The German Society worked to
educate and protect immigrants and later had a great reputation for finding new
German settlers jobs around the state quickly. In 1841, the German Society was
able to convince the legislature to pass a law mandating that Germans who were
brought to court, but did not know English, would be provided with an
interpreter. In 1846, the first year the German Society tried actively to get
German immigrants jobs, it found work for 3,500 individuals.[90] Brune
was one of the prominent leaders of the society until his death in 1860, and
would have had a hand in making all of these achievements possible.

As
Brune became more successful, and began expanding his business ventures, others
in the Baltimore business community noticed his ability to make money and good
investments. Brune was invited to serve on various management boards around the
city. He was also appointed as a director of a local Baltimore
bank, the Savings Bank of the Baltimore, which he helped found in the late 1810s.[91]

In
1819, at the beginning of a severe, four-year economic recession triggered by a
financial panic, Brune was appointed as one of the directors of Baltimore branch
of the Second National Bank of the United States.[92] He
continued to work for the Baltimore branch for seventeen years until the Second
National Bank was shut down by President Andrew Jackson.[93]
The Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank transferred its business to the
Merchants' Bank, a local institution.[94]
When the Merchants'
Bank in Baltimore took over for the Bank of the United States, Brune became a
director of that bank. He continued in that capacity until his death in 1860.[95]

Also,
in the wake of the 1819 financial panic, prominent merchants came together in
1820 and formed the city's first Chamber of Commerce. Brune was a founding
officer, and held a position on the Chamber of Commerce for a number of years.[96]

During
the first half of the nineteenth century, trade opportunities continued to
expand for Von Kapff & Brune. Many South American states became independent
during the 1820s, and Von Kapff & Brune did not hesitate to establish
commercial contacts and initiate trade with these new states.[97]
Though this new avenue of business was prosperous, there were stumbling blocks.
During 1825, a brief financial panic triggered a stock market crash in England
due to speculative investments in Latin America.[98]
This crash hit England hard, causing six London banks to close. This, in turn,
hurt the U.S. economy, but again Von Kapff & Brune were able to weather the
difficult time.[99] During this period, Brune was also a founding member of the Equitable
Fire Insurance Company.[100]
The main purpose of this company was to help its clients rebuild their homes or
offices in the event of a fire.

By
the late 1820s, Brune was a wealthy, respected, and highly-successful
businessman, but he had also become part of an older generation of merchants. This
reality must have rung especially true when his partner of more than a quarter
of a century died in 1828 at the age of fifty-eight.[101] For several years the firm kept the Von Kapff name.[102]
Later, shipments were recorded as being sold to “F.W. Brune.”[103]
In 1836, the company was officially reorganized as F.W. Brune & Son.[104]
Brune brought two of his sons, John Christian and William Henry, into his
business and made them nominal partners. Brune was the senior partner with a half
share in the business, John had a one-third share and William a one-sixth
share.[105] Since William
was not yet of age, he was treated as a junior partner in the firm. This
changed on January 1, 1844, when William at age twenty-three was made a full
partner and the company was officially renamed F.W. Brune & Sons.[106]

During this period of generational transition
the company continued to earn a profit, even surviving the difficult year of
1837 when many banks and businesses failed nationwide due to an economic panic.[107]
In May 1837, New York banks began requiring loan payment to be made in specie, physical
gold or silver coins, not trusting bank notes issued by various private banks
due to currency inflation and rampant speculation. This led to a major
financial panic, in which many banks failed and many people lost their jobs.
The panic resulted in a national depression that lasted five years. F.W. Brune & Sons’ longevity and standing within
the Baltimore community may have helped the mercantile house weather the
uncertain times that caused other businesses to fail. The firm’s reputation in
Baltimore was evident on the occasion of the launching of one of their new
ships in 1844, which was celebrated as a community event. The Letitia, a three-hundred-ton ship, had
been built for F.W. Brune & Sons by the shipyard of “Messrs. Caleb Goodwin
and Co., on Fells Point” and as reported by the Baltimore Sun, “was a beautiful one, and [the launching] was
witnessed by thousands, and among the rest, by a large number of ladies,” all
in a festive atmosphere.[108]

F.W. Brune & Sons expanded its trading networks
to increasingly distant parts of the world, in part because John Brune, as a
young man, had sailed on many of the company’s
ships and built personal relationships with merchants in South America and the
Caribbean.[109] The Brune trade networks,
during this period, extended as far as India and China.[110]
John Brune recognized the importance of sugar as a
trade good and capitalized on his foresight when he founded the Maryland Sugar
Refinery in 1852.[111]
As a result, sugar and molasses became valuable trade commodities for the firm.

The importance of the sugar trade for F.W.
Brune & Sons is demonstrated by an 1848 court case that went all the way to
the Supreme Court. The suit was brought by F.W. Brune & Sons against William
H. Marriott, the collector of duties for the city of Baltimore. At issue was
whether the company had to pay U.S. duties on the value of the original
purchase or on the value of the product it could actually sell. In this case,
F.W. Brune & Sons had imported a large amount of sugar and molasses, some
of which had been ruined due to contamination and moisture. Brune had paid the
duties according to the original purchase “under protest.”[112]
Subsequently he sought reimbursement of the duties proportionate to the product
that could not be sold. The Circuit Court ruled in favor of Brune.[113]
The case was appealed and heard in the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roger
B. Taney in 1850. The firm that represented F.W. Brune & Sons in the case
of Brune v. Marriott in front of the Supreme Court was Brown & Brune,
Brune's son and son-in-law's law firm.[114]
The court ruled in favor of Brune and decided that, regardless of the amount
listed on the invoice, duties could only be charged for goods that could
actually be sold.

By the time this case was finally settled,
Brune was seventy-four years old but it seems that he never went into retirement
or semi-retirement. Frederick Brune died ten years later on November 9, 1860,
at the age of 84, a year after the death of his wife Anne. In the 1860 census,
filled out just months before his death, his personal information is listed thusly:
“Frederick Brune, Age: 84, Sex: M, Value of Real Estate: 100,000, Value of
Personal Estate: 100,000, Place of Birth: Bremen.”[115]
While it is unclear if these numbers accurately reflected Brunes true wealth at
the end of his life, it is clear he was one of Baltimore's wealthiest men, he
owned multiple estates, and was one of the city's leading citizens.

Approximately a year before his 1860 death, Brune
updated his will after “The recent death of my most very dearly beloved wife.”[116]
In a first draft of the 1859 document he specified that his estate be split
among his surviving children and his children’s’ families. He bequeathed his
stock in the company to his sons, John and William, who were partners in the
business. He also stated that if either John or William died before the other,
$30,000 would be given to the family of the deceased son to help the
“survivors.” Brune provided a thousand dollars to be divided among his “female
relations” still in Bremen.[117]
He also left a thousand dollars to his nephew, Frederick William Shattuck. In
his deceased daughter Ellen's name, he gave two thousand dollars to the Boys
School of Saint Paul's Parish and he noted that he had already given during his
life an unspecified amount promised to the collage of St. James, “in this state,”
in her name. Unsurprisingly, Brune's will also planned for various
contingencies, naming two of his sons-in-law as executioners and trustees of
his will if one (or more) of his sons died before he did.[118]

In 1860, Brune's company was the oldest
German mercantile house still in business in Baltimore. F.W. Brune & Sons would
likely have continued to be a prosperous mercantile house for many years after F.W.
Brune’s death if not for the Civil War and the second and third generation’s
declining interest in the core business. In 1861, John C. Brune was elected to
the Maryland Legislature. He was the only member of the Baltimore delegation
not detained when Lincoln suspended habeas
corpus, and arrested openly secessionist members of the Maryland
Legislature in an effort to keep the state from seceding. John Brune escaped
arrest simply because he was late for the meeting and hence was not imprisoned.
Since he was a southern sympathizer he went into hiding in Canada and the
Caribbean. In 1864, toward the end of the Civil War John Brune caught a fever while
at sea and died.[119]
William continued to manage the firm but, over time, he placed less emphasis on
international trade activities and more emphasis on the sugar refinery, which
he officially took over after his brother's death.[120]
He retired from the business in 1872 and later engaged in real estate work.
William Brune died at age 67 in 1887.[121]
Frederick W. Brune II continued to work as a prominent lawyer and died after collapsing
while arguing a case in front of the State Circuit Court in 1878. Frederick
Brune II had a son, Frederick Brune III, who also became a prominent lawyer and
worked at Brown & Brune with two of Brown’s own sons. One of F.W. Brune III
son's was F.W. Brune IV, who became a lawyer, a judge, and then a justice on
the Maryland Supreme Court. There is a “Brune Room” at the University of Maryland
named for him, where the papers of Justice Thurgood Marshall are held.

Frederick
W. Brune I was an immigrant entrepreneur whose business had a major impact on the
development and growth of the city of Baltimore. Though he started life in
Bremen as a German-speaking Lutheran, by the end of his life he spoke primarily
English, identified himself as a Baltimorean and an American, and belonged to
the Episcopal Church. Yet, at the same time he never stopped embracing his own
roots, as evidenced by his more than forty-year membership in, and thirty-eight-year
vice-presidency of, the German Society of Maryland. This ability to change
profoundly, yet not forget his heritage, was one of Brune's keys to success. Through
his connection to Bremen and the contacts he made around the world, he had a
direct hand in shaping Baltimore into a major port city. Brune was also an
integral part of what made Baltimore such an important port of entry for the
generation of German immigrants that arrived after him.

Brune was well equipped to
take advantage of his personal and commercial connections in Bremen (and across
the German states) to funnel German trade, and later immigrants, in the
direction of Baltimore.[122]
As early as 1790, nine years before his arrival in Baltimore, the United States
had secured direct diplomatic relations with the Free Imperial City of Bremen
(as well as Hamburg and Lübeck) and by 1827 a treaty granting a special trade
relationship between the three cities and the United States had been ratified.
These three cities were also the main ports for goods entering or exiting the
German states in the nineteenth century. By 1830 Baltimore was the U.S.'s
second city and would remain so until 1860. Brune, in codifying trade
connections, and thus trade routes with Bremen, is in part directly responsible
for this growth.

Brune
secured a historical legacy within the Baltimore business community. He did so
by earning and keeping the respect and admiration of the people around him
through his hard work and honesty.[123] The
city recognized Brune’s impact and influence. As early as the 1830s, Frederick
Brune was honored by Baltimore city leaders with a street bearing his name,
which still exists today.[124] In
1860, just before his death, a new vessel for transatlantic travel and trade was
christened the F.W. Brune.[125] His
obituary, which appeared in the Baltimore
Sun, states: “throughout his long career he enjoyed an enviable reputation,”
and he “was one of the most enterprising of our citizens.”[126]
Brune was considered a Baltimorean and an American through and through. In a resolution
passed at a meeting of the Corn Exchange four days after his death, members of
the Exchange declared that “Brune was identified with the onward and upward
progress of the city from its infancy… the name of Frederick W. Brune was
synonymous with the upright merchant.”[127] As
Brune's own son, Frederick W. Brune II, wrote in a biographical sketch about of
his father, “he enjoyed the undisturbed respect and esteem of his
fellow-citizens of all classes.” [128]
Brune was not only a man of his age, but he helped shape the age in which he
lived. Brune built local and international networks that facilitated trade
between the Old World and the New. These networks helped transform him into a
successful businessman, enabled Baltimore to become a successful trade and
immigration port, and helped make the United States into a more diverse,
connected, and powerful nation. Brune's life reflects the astounding accomplishments
that could be achieved in a relatively short period of time by a dedicated
immigrant entrepreneur.

[8] Howard, 520.
German was the language of his homeland; English was the language of his
business; and French was the language of world trade at the time. In a November
8, 1827, letter to his sons Brune says he hopes that one day they “…have an
opportunity and find leisure to acquire the French language.”

[9] Howard, 520; Mayer,207. Very little is known about Brune's
brother who settled in New York, but it is possible he was the
"Brune" of the New York Merchant house Brune & Erich. This
merchant house was in business prior to 1799. This Brune's name is also
unclear. In a Death Announcement in the 14 May 1802 New York Evening Post, he is listed as I.D. Brune. In a 20 May 1802 Salem Register Death Notice he is
listed as J. D. Brune. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, however, an
“I” and a “J” were often written the same way by hand so it is likely that the
confusion between the two letters made its way into print. Adding to the
confusion over Brune's brother is an inscription in the Clarke family tomb
citing a “John Lucas Brune who was born in Bremen, Germany October 17th, 1780,
and died in this City [Baltimore] October 15th,1829.” Helen W. Ridgeley, “The
Ancient Churchyard of Baltimore,” The
Grafton Magazine of History and Genealogy, Vol 1, No. 4, (1909): 11. John
L. Brune also advertized German Linens for sale in the 29 November 1810 Federal Republican & Commercial Gazette (a
Baltimore newspaper), from “Von Kapp(sic) & Brune.” This Brune was certainly related to Frederick, as he sold through F.W.
Brune's merchant house and is buried in F.W. Brune's wife's family tomb, but it
is unclear if John ever lived in New York.

[11] Articles published in the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser made this
evolution make sense via primary evidence: April 13, 1796, an advertisement of
the sale of various imports from Bremen by the firm of “B.J. Von Kapff;” May 4,
1797, a notice announcing that the firm “B.J. Von Kapff, will be continued by
Von Kapff & Anspach;” December 28, 1798, an advertisement for Von Kapff an
Anspach selling linens; June 20, 1799,
announcing the sudden death of Henry N. Anspach; and June 22, 1799, an
announcement stating that Von Kapff and Anspach are still in business, this is
signed by members of Anspach's family and
S. Smith & Buchanan, Valck & Co.
and Focke & Co. It was at this time that Brune was contacted in New York by
these very firms to take over Von Kapff's business until Von Kapff returned. On
March 24, 1800, a notice is published announcing Von Kapff has returned from Europe and is now again in charge of the
business. This notice is signed by F.W. Brune (one of the first sources
in which Brune’s name is found). On July 5, 1800, there is a notice written by
B.J. Von Kapff that the partnership between Anspach and Von Kapff officially
expired on February 28, 1800. On November 11, 1800, there is an advertisement
noting imported German Linens from “Von Kapff, Anspach & Brune.” Howard, 520; Mayer,
207.

[12] Zion Lutheran Church
is the oldest German-American church in Baltimore and active to this day. Klaus
G Wust, Zion In Baltimore 1755-1955: The
Bicentennial History of the Earliest German-American Church in Baltimore
Maryland (Baltimore: Zion Church of the City of Baltimore, 1955.), 39-41;
Julius Hofmann, A History of Zion Church of the City of Baltimore,
1755-1897 (Baltimore: C.W. Schneidereith
& Sons 1905), 34; Zions Church Website

[13] Cunz, 213-17.The children of these initial
immigrants pushed to have services in English, the church resisted, and many of
dissatisfied members of the congregation became members of other English
churches, often not Lutheran at all. This may explain why Brune's eldest son,
Frederick W. Brune II was not a Lutheran, but an Episcopalian. Though,
more likely, F.W. Brune I himself converted upon his marriage to Anne Clarke. The Biographical Cyclopedia of
Representative Men of Maryland and District of Columbia (Baltimore:
National Biographical Publishing Co., 1879), 11.

[14] This church building
burned down in a fire in 1840. Wust, 41; Cunz, 182.

[19] B.J. von Kapff, on the other hand, was Presbyterian.
Jerome R. Garitee, The Republics Private
Navy: The American Privateering Business as practiced by Baltimore during the
War of 1812 (Middletown, Connecticut, Wesleyan University Press, 1977),
145.

[20]The
Biographical Cyclopedia, 11. Christening of Elenor (sic) Ann Brune on
December 12 1807; William Henry Brune March 8 1822; Christening of Ambrose
Frederick Brune November 8 1811; Christening of Ann Henrietta Brune May 23
1809. All christened at “Saint Paul Protestant
Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland.” Maryland, Births and Christenings Index, 1662-1911 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: “Maryland
Births and Christenings, 1600–1995.” German Marylanders, (Last accessed March 1, 2012). Find a Grave, “F.W. Brune,” (Last accessed March 1, 2012). Unfortunately though
it is known where Brune is buried (Plot 44 of Old St. Paul's Cemetery in
Baltimore), the grave marker is no longer there. Yet, right next to the spot
where he is it reported to be buried is the family grave of Ambrose Clarke. In
this grave is also Brune's son who died in infancy, Ambrose Frederick Brune,
and John Brune, who was likely F.W. Brune's brother but possibly a cousin,
himself originally from Bremen.

[22] At the Ambrose Clarke family tomb there is an
inscription of a “Grandchild Ambrose Frederick Brune, who was born December 19,
1810 and died October 13th, 1812.” Ridgeley, “The
Ancient Churchyard of Baltimore,” The
Grafton Magazine, (1909), 11 (Last accessed March 1, 2012).

[24] There is a naturalization form for a “Frederick
William Brune” From “Germany,” living in “Baltimore, Md” but unhelpfully it
bears no date. It is in a file with records from 1797-1951. Slightly dubious is that this document is written in
printed script, while all of Brune’s other written documents are in cursive
script. Also the place of origin is listed as “Germany,” not Bremen. National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Indexes to Naturalization petitions to
the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for Maryland,
1797-1951; Microfilm Serial: M1168;
Microfilm Roll: 2.

[25]Baltimore
Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, November 6, 1822; John Thomas Scharf, History of Baltimore City and County (Philadelphia:
Louis H. Everts, 1881), 439.

[26]Baltimore Sun,
March 11, 1848. Brune's name appears on a long list of individuals who endorsed
Taylor. F.W. Brune II also appears on this list.

[37]Transactions of the American Art-Union, 1846. Brune became a member in 1845 and remained
a member until the Art-Union was dissolved in 1851.

[38] Ruthven
Deane, John James Audubon, “An Unpublished letter of John James Audubon to his
Family,” The Auk, 25 (1908): 168.

[39] F.W.
Brune I was a founding member, F.W. Brune II was on the founding committee. Constitution, By-laws, Charter, Circular and
Members of the Maryland Historical Society (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1844), 17-18.

[41] Brune would likely appreciate the fact that the
majority of his surviving papers are now housed in the collections of the
Maryland Historical Society.

[42] Mayer, 208. This year
was more difficult than President Thomas Jefferson’s embargo on all foreign
trade from 1807 until 1809, the War of 1812, and all nineteenth-century
conflicts in Europe which would heavily impact different parts of his trade.

[43] Margit Schulte Beerbühl, “The Risk of Bankruptcy
among German Merchants in Eighteenth-Century England” in History of Solvency and Bankruptcy form an International Perspective,
ed. Karl
Gratze and Dieter Stiefel. (Huddinge, Södertörns Högskola, 2008), 61-81.

[44] Brune’s firm was the
only German merchant house in the city to survive not only the difficulties of
1799 but also other disastrous years, especially 1819, 1825, and 1837. By 1860,
when Brune died, his company was the oldest German mercantile house still in
business in Baltimore. Howard, 520.

[47] Howard, 521: Mayer, 207.
The name of the first ship they bought is unclear. In the Baltimore newspaper, the Republican on June, 4, 1802, there is a
ship listing: “Also, Brig Viper, captain Frazier, 13 days from C.
Francois—coffee Von Kapff, Anspach & Brune.” However, it is unclear if the
firm owned the Viper, or simply had
commissioned it as they had many ships before, like the Theodora. The Federal
Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, March, 6, 1801.

[51]Baltimore
Patriot and Evening Advertiser, August 23, 1815. It is unclear why Brune
opened a second merchant house with Dannemann, but as the two houses were
classified differently, it likely made sense as a way to expand his business. Commercial directory: containing, a
topographical description, extent and productions of different sections of the
Union, statistical information relative to manufactures, commercial and port
regulations, a list of the principal commercial houses, tables of imports and
exports, foreign and domestic; tables of foreign coins, weights and measures,
tariff of duties (1823), 70, 72. On occasion both of Brune's
businesses would advertize items for sale in the same newspaper (See Baltimore Price Current, October 7, 1815
and September 20, 1817). Dannemann himself also had a second merchant house,
Henry Rhodewald & Dannemann (Baltimore
Patriot and Mercantile Advisor, January 14, 1829). There are two
independent factors that also link these four men. Brune, von Kapff, Dannemann
and Rhodewald (also spelled Rodewald) were all Baltimore merchants and second,
all four were members of the German Society of Maryland and thus
German-Americans. Louis P. Hennighausen, History
of the German Society of Maryland (Baltimore: W.E.C. Harrison & Sons,
1909), 179-183. Rhodewald was also one of the executioners of von Kapffs will,
along with Brune. Maryland Historical Society, Brune-Randall Family Papers,
1782-1972, MS 2004, Box 1, Von Kapff Estate Papers.

[53] Garitee,266.The
Republican Star, October 10, 1809, and November 7, 1809. Frederick ascended
to the throne in 1808. Frederick's liberal leanings would drastically change
after 1814, following Frederick's defeat during the Napoleonic Wars.

[54] All 2011 dollar conversions in the article, unless
otherwise noted, are based on Samuel H. Williamson, “Seven Ways to Compute the
Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to present,” MeasuringWorth, 2012, using the Consumer Price Index.

[65] The Following is the full “General
Order,” sans the individual numerical breakdown of everything taken from the
ships of other merchants:

His Supreme Highness, the President,
having judged necessary to send to the United States of America, for purchasing
a variety of articles on account of his Government, the sum of one hundred and
twenty-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-five dollars and nineteen cents, as
follows, viz : 741,000 lbs. of
coffee, amount of the cargoes of the English ship Earl Bathurst, and of the
American brig Maderia, consigned to Messrs. Von Kapff & Brune, merchants,
in Baltimore... [and] Since not only the objects,
which had determined the sending of these funds,
have been detained in the United States, by the said Von Kapff & Brune, and Mr. M'Faden, but that the said funds have been
unjustly detained there, ... his Supreme Highness has decided upon the following
procedure, which is truly repugnant to his heart and policy, but which is the
only resource which remains to recover the property of his state... Wherefore, his
Supreme Highness has convoked the American merchants established in this State,
in order to declare the American property which was found in their hands, and
to make a just detention of it proportionably to the said debt, for its
maintenance and preservation... It is evident, from (his account, that
they have on hand in money, merchandise, and
private debts, the sum of one hundred and thirty-two thousand four hundred and twenty-eight dollars and fifty-two
cents, which have been formally retained in the hands of the said merchants,
who remain personally responsible for it, till the amount of the debt of His
Supreme Highness be restored to him by the said Von Kapff & Brune, and
M'Faden, in which case he solemnly promises to surrender all the detained property. Consequently, since American property was
found in sufficient quantity in this state,
his Most Serene Highness declares that it was kept for
satisfaction; and that, from the present date, he should not forbid American vessels from coming freely into the ports of the
state, and desires the merchants of this
friendly nation to continue their commercial correspondence without fear, for the future, of being molested on
account of the present affair.

Done at the headquarters of Cape
Henry, January 3, 1811, eighth year of the Independence.P. ROMAIN, Chief of
the State, Major General. Considered and approved for the press: HENRY
CHRISTOPHE.House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Claims on
Hayti: Message from the President of the
United States, 1842, 7-8.

[68] The only merchant who is known to have regained his
goods from Christophe was a Mr. John Myers. The Haitian government had
confiscated the cargo of three schooners and a ship valued at $31,369.72 from
Myers. In 1811, Myers paid this amount into Christophe's treasury and his goods
were released to him. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Claims on Hayti: Message from the
President of the United States, 1842. 8-9. Six years passed before the U.S.
Government, still under President James Madison, took official action. In 1817,
Madison sent an emissary to Christophe. The issue was that the U.S. would still
not recognize Haitian independence. In the official letters of introduction by Madison,
instead of naming Christophe's capital city as Cap-Haïtien in the Kingdom of Haiti, the city
was called “Cap-Français
in the island of Saint-Dominique.” Insulted, Christophe refused to see the
envoy, and the government was never able to recoup the lost funds for her
merchants. Cole, 238-239.

[81] Cunz, 202;
Beirne, 204
In 1813, Napoleon's forces retreated from
Bremen, which had been captured during the Napoleonic Wars. After the French
withdrawal, Bremen was able to secure its own autonomy as an independent German
city-state. In 1827, Bremen expanded by purchasing land from the Kingdom of Hannover
to establish their own harbor, called Bremerhaven. This was due in part to the
expanding need for trade and Bremen's inland harbor becoming more difficult to
navigate due to silt deposits. Bremerhaven became an important port of
departure for immigrants to the United States and during this period Baltimore
was their preferred port of entry.Raymond S. Wright III, “German Ports: Gateways to America,” Ancestry Magazine (Mar-Apr 1998), 51-52.

[83] Of note, it was also
during this period that the word “immigrant” came into common use. Previously,
the word of choice was “emigrant,” denoting “leaving from,” and now immigrant
stood for “arriving to,” and in this context it was America. Ibid. 197-198.

[85] Klaus G.
Wust, Pioneersin Service: The German Society of Maryland 1783-1981 (Baltimore:
German Society of Maryland, 1981), 49. The term ended after Brune's death and German
Society Records show that he served until “1861.”

[91] John Thomas
Scharf, History of Baltimore City and
Country From the Earliest Period to the Present Day (Philadelphia: Louis H.
Everts, 1881), 470; Mayer, 208. Brown, It
was believed that “A bank was dependent upon the personal reputation of its
officers and members of its board of directors.” “Baltimore and the Trade Panic
of 1819,” Law Society and Politics in
Early Maryland, Eds. Land, Carr, Papenfuse, 215.

[92] Nationwide, the bank had twenty-five national
directors, five appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It
seems that each of the twenty-five directors would be in charge of one of the twenty-five
branches of the bank, and would have local directors, such as Brune, working
under them. The Second National Bank, A
Chapter in the History of Central Banking, (Philadelphia, Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia), 6 (Last accessed, March 1, 2012). The recession was
exacerbated, in part, by the actions of the Second National Bank. The Second
National Bank of the United States (1816-1836) was a lending institution and
any promissory notes given had to be taken on faith that the bank could back
it. In 1819 the value of the promissory notes of the bank came into question.
Individuals began to demand that the notes be backed by specie, physical gold
or silver coins. The bank was unable to do this with all its loans, which led to
a loss in confidence that the bank could repay its debts which sparked the
financial panic. In 1819, Langdon Cheves was appointed as president of the bank
to fix the problems that came to light that year. The bank successfully
reorganized and instituted rules that would better regulate its own value and
ability. The Second National Bank, A
Chapter in the History of Central Banking, 6. Further exacerbating the
situation was that Europe was sending more goods to the United States than
could be sold. Import value depreciated because of excess availability, and
thus exports were less profitable. Gary L. Brown, “Baltimore and the Trade
Panic of 1819,” Law Society and Politics
in Early Maryland, Eds. Aubrey C. Land, Lois Green Carr, Edward C.
Papenfuse (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977),213.

[93] Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, November 29, 1823, and December
03, 1830; Boston Commercial Gazette,
December 06, 1824. A major reason
Andrew Jackson was against the bank was that he did not trust paper notes. He
also believed that it was too powerful and too centralized. He vetoed the
renewal of the charter (which expired in 1836), and he took federal money out
of the bank and put it into state banks (which he did in 1833), which
effectively crippled the Second National Bank's ability to do business. This
led to a slow end of the institution, which reconsolidated as a private bank,
but finally closed its doors in 1841.

[94]Matchett's Baltimore Director, corrected up
to September 1835, 21.

[96] Scharf, 439; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile
Advertiser, May 6, 1822, and May 3, 1823. 1819 is also mentioned as one of
the difficult years for commerce that Von Kapff & Brune, now established
merchants, weathered. Mayer, 208.

[97] One anecdote (which unfortunately is undated)
relates that one of the trading firm’s ships, the Harriet, had successfully done business all around South America.
It sailed around Cape Horn and made a stop in Rio de Janeiro. The captain,
without express permission from Von Kapff & Brune, purchased a cargo of
coffee. Coffee, at that time, was considered so foreign that few would buy it
and they were forced to sell it at a loss. This may have been one of the
earliest exposures to coffee in Baltimore. Only later would coffee become one
of the most important trade items for Baltimore and around the world. Mayer, 208;
Howard, 521-522; Baltimore Sun,
May 4, 1952. This event probably happened in the early 1800s, as by 1811 Henri
Christophe was able to send $120,000 worth of coffee to Baltimore to build his
warship. In another anecdote, one of their vessels sailed from
Valparaiso, Chile, to Baltimore in a record-setting 69 days. Mayer, 208; Howard, 521; Baltimore Sun, May 4, 1952. Another ship was said to have
made the trip from Montevideo, Uruguay in 35 days.
Howard, 521.

[98]The Second
National Bank, A Chapter in the History of Central Banking, 6.

[100] Though the actual founding date of this company is
unclear, Brune, at this point in his life, was a founding member of this organization, whose purpose was to
help rebuild the houses and offices of its clients if they were damaged by
fire. Howard, 522.

[123]Baltimore Sun,
November 13, 1860; Howard, 521. Brune was
so well esteemed he was often used as a character reference in classified
advertisements, Baltimore Sun,
October 3 1848, and November 27, 1850.

[124] Hennighausen, 6; Baltimore Sun June 25, 1839. This
announcement shows that F.W. Brune II bought a lot on the street named for his
father.Baltimore Sun, May 4, 1952. This article on Brune was part of a running series in the Baltimore Sun in the 1950s. It
chronicled the history of the men in Baltimore's street names.

[128] Howard, 522, 599. On page 599 it is revealed that F.W. Brune II wrote the piece on Brune I. The quote at the end of the biographical sketch on page 522 is worth quoting in full: “Mr. Brune was distinguished for the urbanity and simplicity of his manners, the out-growth of an innate dignity of character, united with great amiability and a rare modesty. He died at the age of eighty-four, having seen the city of his adoption grow from thirty thousand inhabitants to nearly ten times that number, and during all this time he enjoyed the undisturbed respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens of all classes.”

Explore

Volume

Themes

Regions

This project is sponsored by the Transatlantic Program of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through funds of the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.